PURSUIT OF JAPS.

Grey River Argus, 7 January 1944, Page 5

PURSUIT OF JAPS.

On Huon Peninsula AUSTRALIANS ADVANCE FOUR MILES A DAY. (Rec. 11.40) LONDON, Jan. 6. On the New Guinea front the American troops who landed at Saidor are enlarging their holdings. Some eight miles south-east of Saidor, Australian forces continue to advance up the Huon Peninsula coast at an average rate of four miles per day. They are closing in on Sio. This is a Japanese barge base, fifty miles north-west of the Allied-held area of Finschhafen. The Japanese on the Peninsula, are making a disorderly retreat. It is believed they are trying to evacuate some of their troops by sea. The enemy forces are caught between the Australians advancing up the Peninsula and the Americans at Saidor. The Australians’ pursuit of broken remnants of the Japanese rearguard has developed largely into a mopping up operation. The' enemy is discarding equipment, and all superfluous weight, including much personal gear. In the flight Japanese soldiers who have been unable to keep pace with the retreat have been left to die on the track. Wounded have also been left behind. Australian patrols moving through mountainous country, in-/ land, have wiped out numbers of Japanese. They found there, Japanese living on native foods and roots in the hills. „ , c Madang (fifty-five miles west of Saidor) and Alexishafen (twelye miles north of Madang) were main targets for South-west Pacific bombers. These aerial assaults are designed to disrupt Japanese supplies. They are directly linked with the land operations in the adjacent areas.